Suzanne Harrington: Bye George. Karma has undergone its final chameleon

On what planet did Boy George think releasing a song supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza would be a good idea, asks Suzanne Harrington

This latest stunt has catapulted Boy George to a new celebrity category — the Bargepole Club, says Suzanne Harrington. Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Oh dear, George. (Can’t quite bring myself to use the ‘Boy’ prefix, given that you’re 65, and old enough to know better). What were you thinking? Or failing that, who is advising you? On what planet did you think releasing a song supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza would be a good idea? And not just any old song, but a reportedly AI-assisted song with lyrics so bad even a robot drunk on WD40 would struggle to admit ownership?

“There will be no war / But if you’re ever confused / I stand with the Jews / I don’t feel brave, I just need to behave like a human” would never be winning any Ivor Novello awards. 

However, it’s the “You say genocide, I say war” line that not only contradicts United Nations and Amnesty International reports (quick recap, George — war is when two sides are involved, genocide is when one side is doing a mass slaughter of the other side’s civilians), but shows a level of ignorance so tone-deaf we are left wondering what on earth could be your motivation for releasing this drivel?

You have Jewish friends, is that it? Me too. My partner is London Jewish. My best friend of 40 years is Dublin Jewish. The people I march alongside on Free Palestine demonstrations carry banners emblazoned with word like Jews Against Genocide, Jews For Peace. Lumping Jews and Israelis together as an indistinguishable mass seems a bit, I don’t know, antisemitic.

“I just need to behave like a human” you sing, over backing music that could most charitably be described as reggae-adjacent. (If Bob Marley were not already dead, this would finish him off). 

Is supporting genocide behaving like a human, George? Or does it place you within a group of humans from which most of us would be keen to strongly disassociate? Individuals unlikely to ever chant Hare Krishna, or identify as Buddhist, as you have loudly done in the not so distant past.

Naturally, there have been online theorists speculating on murky ties to Israel’s genocidal regime.

But, while nothing is impossible anymore, that does seem a smidge far-fetched. Could it just be that, having failed to qualify to co-represent — checks notes — the microstate of San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest, you thought you’d try representing Israel instead, albeit unofficially? To place yourself in the conversation by any means?

Bravo, George, your plan worked. People haven’t been talking about you this much since you were convicted of handcuffing someone to a wall and assaulting them with a chain. 

Back then, you were in the thick of addiction, served your jail sentence, and were broadly forgiven by a public who still felt some affection for you.

You’d been part of the cultural wallpaper for such a long time, having initially enticed us with make-up and costumes and drama and pop songs (sample lyric from 1984 — “war is stupid, and people are stupid”).

This latest stunt has catapulted you to a new celebrity category — the Bargepole Club. A category whose current members include Morrissey, Russell Brand, Kanye West, and recently, Gwyneth Paltrow.

A category of once positively regarded individuals now forever tainted by a variety of self-defeating behaviours ranging from racism and rape allegations to Nazi-ism to advertising apartments amid a genocide. This is a club whose membership is permanent.

Bye George. Your karma has undergone its final chameleon.